CLAMP School Kurogane
by paris1601
Summary: AU: The members of the house of Suwa are such sought after ninja that they are allowed to choose the one they would protect with their lives. Kurogane is a first grader sent to CLAMP School to find the one for him to protect. Ch 6: Case 1 2 of 2
1. Fated Meetings

This is a series of one-shots depicting Kurogane in CLAMP School. The chapters should be able to stand alone, but it is always helpful to read the first chapter where everything begins and the characters are introduced.

**Disclaimers:** CLAMP school, the CLAMP school elementary student council, Fai, and Kurogane are all properties of CLAMP.

_Because there was too much sugar in my dark chocolate and I have writer's block..._

**CLAMP School Kurogane**

**Suwano Kurogane**

A first grade student and a Suwa ninja. He was sent by his family to CLAMP school because of a prediction of their resident dream seer Tomoyo that he would find his "one" there. Kurogane is a very talented fighter and athlete despite his age, but is somewhat short-tempered. He believes he is a strong warrior and hates it when he is looked down upon and treated like a child (or a puppy ).

**Fai D. Flowright**

A fifth grade student. He is a foreigner and is reasons for being transferred to the school are not clear. All that is known about his family life is that he was raised by a person named Ashura and Ashura's bodyguard and friend Yasha. Fai is shown to be brilliant in almost all arts from painting to culinary. He is well mannered and appears to be from a well-to-do family.

**Imonoyama Nokoru**

A sixth grade student and president of the Elementary Student Council. He and Fai are very similar in nature as they are both always ready with a smile and a kind word. He is the youngest son of the head of the Imonoyama zaibatsu. He is very charming and intelligent and is always ready to help a damsel in distress.

**Takamura Suoh**

Fai's classmate and Nokoru's long-suffering secretary. He is also a ninja and his "one" is Nokoru. He is shy and quiet, except when he is forcing Nokoru to finish his student council paperwork. He is almost always by Nokoru's side. He has a crush on a kindergartner named Nagisa.

**Ijyuin Akira**

A fourth grade student and Nokoru's treasurer. He is (not so) secretly the thief 20 faces at night. He is very cheerful and seemingly naïve. He always supports Nokoru's exploits and is a very talented chef.

**Meeting at the Gates**

_Elementary Student Council...Elementary Student Council..._

Suwano Kurogane (1) looked up from his map and scanned his surroundings with a trained eye. The campus was large and the map was somewhat confusing, but he should be able to get around just fine. He was standing right inside the large gates of CLAMP school, getting his bearings. He was a new student, after all. He should get a hang of the place.

Kurogane grunted unhappily as he resumed studying his map and comparing it with his environment.

He couldn't understand the reason why he was sent here. As talented a ninja as he was considering his age, he still had quite a ways to go with his training. Being away from the Suwa clan house and training was not going to help him improve his skills.

The voice of the fifteen year-old dream seer seemed to speak to him in his head, reminding him of the purpose of his transfer, _"You have to find your "one", Kurogane, the one you will protect with your life. Then, you will learn what true strength is and nothing will stop you from getting stronger."_

Stupid Tomoyo and her stupid predictions.

Kurogane did not need anything to get stronger. He was determined to be the strongest ninja in the world. That was enough. He did not understand why he would need some weakling cowering behind him to become strong. He couldn't understand it; he needed it much less.

"Good morning!" a cheerful voice greeted Kurogane dragging him away from his thoughts. A blond head popped out of the window of a black limousine, which had stopped alongside the young ninja. It was a rental. Kurogane could tell from the license plate he had caught a glimpse of earlier. Why would someone come to school in a rented limo? He thought the person in the limo was calling out to him, but Kurogane didn't know anyone in that school, so opted to ignore the blond. "Hey, little blackie!" the blond called out again.

"Who're you calling little?!" he growled at the boy in the car. "And don't call me blackie, I'm not a dog!" He stomped up to the limo's window. Kurogane was a skilled ninja, but his temper still needed a lot of work.

When he got closer and got himself a closer look at the blond idiot, he found himself in an odd state of breathlessness. This boy was a few years older. He didn't look Japanese, but Kurogane had already guessed that he wasn't from his accented speech (noticing little details like that was part of Kurogane's training, after all). But what truly got Kurogane was the fact that this boy was incredibly beautiful. If Kurogane was in a manga, which he was not, the blond's face would be surrounded by roses and sparkles. It was literally a manga _doki-doki_ moment. (2)

A moment that blondie had to ruin by talking. "Well, I see that got your attention," he drawled, opening his door. "Come on in, won't you?"

"Why?" Kurogane asked, scrutinizing smiling blue eyes with his red ones. Beautiful as the blond was, his smile made him look like a _hentai _and the Suwa boy decided that he found the smile annoying. He wouldn't take the offer without a good enough reason. Kurogane would be able to defend himself, if the idiot tried anything, but it wouldn't be smart of him to get himself in an easily avoidable situation where he would have to defend himself, in the first place.

"Because," the other boy said, holding out his hand for the Suwa boy to take. "You looked a little lost and you're almost late."

Somehow, there was something in those sky blue eyes that Kurogane could not refuse. _I'm being an idiot_, he reminded himself as he climbed into this stranger's car.

Inside the car was a man with long black hair. His eyes were hidden behind dark-glasses and he was wearing a suit. The boy was wearing the CLAMP school uniform much like Kurogane's. "Do you think this wise, sir?" the man inquired from where he was seated. "You don't know this boy."

The blond's eyes widened adorably, "But Yasha-san, just look at him! Don't you just want to hug him?" He punctuated his sentence by glomping onto Kurogane who, naturally, tried to escape. At this, Yasha sweatdropped and left things at that.

_This guy is a hentai!_ the young ninja screeched...er...concluded in his mind as he tried to wriggle free of the arms surrounding him. Only his mother hugged him, no one else (okay, sometimes Tomoyo hugged him, but that was beside the point)! The only other times he got hugged was during defense training, and that was not affectionate. "Get off me!"

"I don't think he likes it, sir," Yasha pointed out.

"You think?" Kurogane growled as he struggled. The hold on him was too strong. This guy was more powerful than he looked.

"But he's so cuuuuute!"

"I. Am. Not. CUTE!"

At that moment, the car stopped in front of one of the buildings and the glomping ended as quickly as it had began. "We're here!" the boy chirped. Yasha was out of the car in an instant and had walked to the other side to open Kurogane's door. Kurogane got off and the boy hopped off after him. "You were going to the Elementary Student Council Office, right?"

"But, how did...?" the young ninja began to ask, but Yasha and the strange boy were busy talking. As it wasn't his business, so Kurogane didn't listen.

This was an interesting start to his day.

**Introductions**

Great. Just what Kurogane needed: another blue-eyed blond with an infuriating smile. And this one had a fan! He regarded the white fan with the characters for "Welcome" in front of the new blond's face with irritation.

"Welcome to CLAMP School," another boy, also wide-eyed and all smiles, albeit with black hair, greeted Kurogane and the strange boy from the gate. He gestured towards the one holding a fan, "That is Imonoyama Nokoru-kaichou, sixth grade."

"Kaichou?" the blond boy from before looked thoughtful, as if contemplating the word.

"It means 'puresidentu'," Nokoru replied, reciting the English word for his title. (3) The student council president used his fan to point at a quiet blue-haired boy. "That is Takamura Suoh, fifth grade and our student council secretary." Suoh gave the newcomers a cursory nod. And then Nokoru finally motioned towards the one who had introduced him, "And this is Ijyuin Akira, fourth grade and our treasurer." Akira smiled sweetly at Kurogane and the still nameless blond.

The student council president smiled brilliantly, "It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I am Suwano Kurogane, first grade," Kurogane announced, bowing slightly. He couldn't help but glance at his companion to see how this foreigner would act.

But, the other's manners were flawless, smiling and bowing and returning the greeting (4), "It's a pleasure to meet you. I am Fai D. Flowright, fifth grade."

_Furowuraito?_ Kurogane mused. _What a strange name to give to a child._ (5)

"So your family name is 'Flowright' and your given name is 'Fai', am I correct?" Nokoru clarified.

Fai nodded. "Yes. Sorry, I should have introduced myself as Flowright Fai. I'm still not used to this."

_Ah...so his name is Fai, _the young ninja scrutinized the owner of the name. _It suits him somehow, _he decided.

**Weapons**

"You're allowed to carry weapons in this school?"

Suoh blinked in surprise at the question of the first-grader he was leading to class. How could a young child notice? Then, he remembered from the file Nokoru had shown him earlier that Kurogane was a ninja, as well.

"You walk around like it's nothing, but I can tell that there is something hidden under your clothes. The sound your shoes make on the floor is a bit off, too, so you probably have a hidden compartment in there," Kurogane explained, mighty proud of himself for noticing and catching the older boy off-guard.

"I only carry what is necessary," Suoh answered tersely. He made a mental note to make adjustments to his shoes so as to minimize the difference in the sound of his footfalls. As far as he could tell, there were no weapons on the child with him, but he found himself becoming cautious. "Why do you ask? Do you have weapons with you?"

"No," Kurogane replied, sounding a bit frustrated. "I should have brought some, at least, had I known that I could. It's a good thing I haven't found my one yet or else it would be bothersome." The last part was muttered in a very subdued, but annoyed tone.

But Suoh's trained ears easily picked up the quieter words. _His one? _Now, Suoh was curious, but he didn't want to press it. This boy was looking for his one, but didn't seem too happy about it. He thought about how he first met Nokoru and how he realized that the president was the one he would protect for the rest of his life. He couldn't help but smile fondly.

"What's wrong with you?" Kurogane broke into Suoh's reverie. "You're smiling like an idiot. And here I thought you were better than those guys!"

Suoh stared down at indignant red eyes and found himself smiling even more. "Weapons aren't allowed in the school," he answered an earlier posed question. Before Kurogane could point out that he was carrying weapons, himself, he added, "You can bring them if you can hide them and not use them unless it's absolutely necessary."

"And what would 'absolutely necessary' mean?" the Suwa ninja inquired.

"It means you will only bring out your weapons when you need to protect someone," the Takamura ninja replied.

The younger boy thought it over, for some reason, the older ninja's words made him think about Fai. He frowned at that thought and said, "It isn't a good strategy to reveal yourself unless absolutely necessary, anyway."

**Author's Notes**

Yay! That's how Kurogane's first day at CLAMP School. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Now, here are a few notes.

1 Kurogane in TRC is from Suwa. Suwano is from "Suwa no" so Kurogane's name is literally Kurogane of Suwa.

2 _Doki-doki_, if I remembered correctly, is the sound of the heart beating. In some manga, when the hero sees the person he likes, _doki-doki_ is usually the sound effect.

3 Let's say they're speaking Japanese. "Puresidentu" may be one way a native Japanese speaker would pronounce the word "president". I'm not absolutely sure about this.

4 I'm not entirely sure about proper manners when meeting a person in Japan, but I figured since Nokoru is the sempai in this whole thing, Fai and Kurogane have to bow to him. The "It's a pleasure to meet you" is how I translate the Japanese "Hajimemashite."

5 Kurogane is in first grade here, so we can forgive him for being naïve.

6 Sorry if Yasha is a bit OOC in your opinion, I'm not very familiar with his character because he was a minor character in TRC.

Ah, reviews are always welcome. Please feel free to be critical. It helps me improve. Thank you very much for reading this fic. I'm also open for ideas as to what can happen to Kurogane and Fai as Kurogane searches for his "one".


	2. Girls and Handwritings

This is a series of one-shots depicting Kurogane in CLAMP School. The chapters should be able to stand alone, but it is always helpful to read the first chapter where everything begins and the characters are introduced.

**Disclaimers:** CLAMP school, the CLAMP school elementary student council, Fai, and Kurogane are all properties of CLAMP.

_Because my handwriting sucks..._

**CLAMP School Kurogane**

**Suwano Kurogane**

A first grade student and a Suwa ninja. He was sent by his family to CLAMP school because of a prediction of their resident dream seer Tomoyo that he would find his "one" there. Kurogane is a very talented fighter and athlete despite his age, but is somewhat short-tempered. He believes he is a strong warrior and hates it when he is looked down upon and treated like a child (or a puppy ).

**Fai D. Flowright**

A fifth grade student. He is a foreigner and is reasons for being transferred to the school are not clear. All that is known about his family life is that he was raised by a person named Ashura and Ashura's bodyguard and friend Yasha. Fai is shown to be brilliant in almost all arts from painting to culinary. He is well mannered and appears to be from a well-to-do family.

Girls and Handwritings

_Girls are stupid._

Kurogane had to spend only four hours in CLAMP school to make that conclusion and make it with finality. Girls were stupid, loud, noisy, and weird. Especially _fan girls_. Fan girls were especially stupid, loud, noisy, and weird. And he had, by some divine idiots' conspiracy, acquired his share even if he had been aloof and visibly incensed the entire day.

It was this conclusion that forced Kurogane to roam around campus during his lunch break in search of a hideaway that would allow him peace and quiet away from girls. And this was how the little Suwa ninja found the garden filled with wisteria flowers by the archery hall. It was quiet, but not silent. There was a meditative feel to the place.

It was perfect.

He was about to settle down and relax when he realized the fatal flaw of the place. The fatal flaw was a certain blue-eyed blond sitting amongst the flowers, reading a book. He was about to leave when, despite his ninja-stealth movements, he was noticed.

"Kuro-tan!" Fai called out, his face brightening upon seeing someone familiar.

Kurogane was about to leave, but the pull of the meditative peace of the garden—yes, that's exactly what pulled him back—made him turn and stomp back towards the blond. He needed the meditative peace to soothe the insult to his name. "My name is Kurogane!" he cried out indignantly before demanding, "What are you doing here?" His voice made the sentence sound more like 'go away'.

Either undaunted by the ninja's anger or not noticing it, Fai calmly held up a book that Kurogane recognized to be the book on the Japanese language issued to first graders. "I needed to review a bit," he replied. There was also an open book filled with foreign characters, sitting by the fifth grader's side.

The younger boy glanced at the foreign book. There were notes in a strange but curiously beautiful script in its margins. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that two different hands with very different pen strokes made the notes. "This is your handwriting?" Kurogane pointed to the daintier, and in his opinion, more beautiful of the two scripts.

Fai nodded, then closed the book he was reading. He placed a hand on top of the book Kurogane was looking at, as if wanting to hide its contents.

"Who wrote those other things?" the ninja asked, undeterred by the other's body language.

The blond stiffened slightly at the question, then smiled a bit uneasily, "My teacher did." As he closed the book with a dull thud and set it aside, he deftly changed the topic. "And what about you? What are you doing here in this deserted place?"

Reminded of that day's frustrations, Kurogane pouted miserably, "Nothing."

This made Fai chuckle. "You're just too cute," he commented, but opted not to glomp.

"I am not cute! You sound just like those girls!" Kurogane yelled indignantly.

"Girls?" Fai was curious. "Is that why you're here? You've acquired yourself a bunch of adoring fan girls?" He sounded sympathetic. Then, he produced a couple of sandwiches from his bag. "Have you eaten lunch, yet?"

Slightly mollified by the fact that his senior seemed to understand the situation, Kurogane shook his head. "I'm not hungry." Truth was, he was hungry, but didn't want to face the mob of girls that he had seen waiting for him by the store. He was also too proud to accept help from Fai. He took a moment to make a mental note to ask his teachers at home if there was a secret technique for handling fan girls.

"Oh," Fai looked disappointed. He had known, at the back of his mind, that Kurogane would refuse, but there was no harm in trying. He tried a second approach. "I was hoping you'd join me. I can't stand eating alone," he wasn't really lying, but he was using the truth to his own advantage. He held out one of the sandwiches.

Kurogane considered things for a moment. He was really hungry, and Fai seemed normal at that moment. Also, he was just being kind to someone in need of company; there was no problem with that. "Fine," he took the sandwich offered to him and sat beside a secretly triumphant Fai. As he bit into the sandwich, which was chicken, by the way, the ninja felt the need to say something nice.

"Your handwriting's nice."

"Oh?" Fai blinked, surprised by the completely unexpected compliment. When he realized that it was the younger boy's way of thanking him, he couldn't help but smile. "Thank you for saying so." And then, he couldn't help but ask. "How did you know which one, which handwriting, was mine?"

The other boy paused, mid-bite. "I don't know," Kurogane replied. "It seemed like yours. It's elegant and pretty." Yeah, everything about Fai was elegant and pretty, so why should his handwriting be different?

Fai was touched, and maybe he blushed a little at the honest praise. "Thank you," he managed with even more sincerity. Kurogane had already finished his sandwich, but Fai was barely halfway through his, so to keep the brunet busy, Fai decided to get Kurogane talking.

"You were saying something about girls earlier..."

Kurogane pouted again. Apparently, he hadn't perfected the art of scowling. Yet. "They're everywhere," he complained. "The girls here are different."

Fai's brow arched curiously. "Different?" Bite.

Kurogane nodded sagely. "Yes. The girls at home are a lot quieter."

Swallow. "So you like the girls at home, but not the girls here?"

"No, I don't like girls at all," Kurogane grumped. Fai paused from his sandwich, trying hard not to choke on his own stifled chuckles at the innocently made claim that could be interpreted in so many not-so-innocent ways.

"Oh?"

"Yeah," Kurogane met Fai's gaze as he explained, studying the older boy's face, searching for comprehension. "Girls get mad for no reason and cry for almost any reason. Girls are annoying and stupid."

"Your mom's a girl, don't you like her?"

Caught off guard, the ninja stopped short. He had never thought of his mother as a girl. "I like my mom. My mom's nice and isn't loud. She doesn't cry a lot and I've never seen her mad. She's also elegant and pretty." Kurogane, having exhausted his relatively short list of adjectives, unwittingly repeated his description of Fai's handwriting.

"Elegant and pretty like my handwriting?" Fai inquired, his lips quirking to an even larger smile that looked a wee bit sinister.

Kurogane's red eyes widened. He could tell the blond was up to something, but he wasn't sure what. Still, he honestly answered the question.

"Yeah."

The Suwano boy wondered what the crazy foreigner would do to him or say to him. He counted to ten, but Fai only smiled while he studied his junior's face, which was getting warmer with each second. Kurogane, however, did not feel the heat rise to his cheeks until the older boy leaned back saying and doing nothing other than grin like the cat that had caught the canary.

They sat there the rest of lunch period, in meditative peace.

As Kurogane walked back to class near the end of lunch break, he decided that he liked the garden by the archery hall and decided to have lunch there everyday.

-

**A/N: **Please don't get mad at me for making Kurogane hate fan girls. He's, what? Seven? It's understandable that he's still afraid of the opposite sex. My apologies if the two boys are OOC. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this.


	3. Roommates

I wanted these one-shots to be independent of each other, and they sort of are. But, I think the stories aren't as independent as I wanted them to be because they mention events from previous chapters. Also, I'll probably be writing an arc sometime soon. Anyway, enough rambling, here's the next chapter, I hope you like it.

**CLAMP School Kurogane**

**Suwano Kurogane**

A first grade student and a Suwa ninja. He was sent by his family to CLAMP school because of a prediction of their resident dream seer Tomoyo that he would find his "one", the one he would protect for the rest of his life, there. Kurogane is a very talented fighter and athlete despite his age, but is somewhat short-tempered. He believes he is a strong warrior and hates it when he is looked down upon and treated like a child (or a puppy ).

**Fai D. Flowright**

A fifth grade student. He is a foreigner and is reasons for being transferred to the school are not clear. All that is known about his family life is that he was raised by a person named Ashura and Ashura's bodyguard and friend Yasha. Fai is shown to be brilliant in almost all arts from painting to culinary. He is well mannered and appears to be from a well-to-do family.

**Imonoyama Nokoru**

A sixth grade student and president of the Elementary Student Council. He and Fai are very similar in nature as they are both always ready with a smile and a kind word. He is the youngest son of the head of the Imonoyama zaibatsu. He is very charming and intelligent and is always ready to help a damsel in distress.

**Takamura Suoh**

Fai's classmate and Nokoru's long-suffering secretary. He is also a ninja and his "one" is Nokoru. He is shy and quiet, except when he is forcing Nokoru to finish his student council paperwork. He is almost always by Nokoru's side. He has a crush on a kindergartner named Nagisa.

**Ijyuin Akira**

A fourth grade student and Nokoru's treasurer. He is (not so) secretly the thief 20 faces at night. He is very cheerful and seemingly naïve. He always supports Nokoru's exploits and is a very talented chef. He likes the kindergarten student council president Utako.

Roommates

It was 20:58, according to his bedside clock. There were only three hours left in the day. What more could possibly happen?

_This day couldn't possibly get any worse_, Kurogane comforted himself, as he lay awake on his bed, contemplating that day's events.

He had been unceremoniously transferred to a new school where he could not train properly. A clingy blond fifth-grade idiot had nearly suffocated him to death first thing in the morning. He had been bored to death by the first-grade classes, which he had no interest in, because he did not see their value in everyday living. He was constantly hounded by fangirls whose vocabularies seemed to consist exclusively of adjectives that, in his opinion, should be reserved for small helpless little things like babies, puppies and kittens, and puff pastries. And, just as he was about to go home, relieved that his day was through, Tomoyo came over to "check up on him" and tell him that he was going to be staying in the dorms.

"_Why do I have to do that?" Kurogane had demanded in a voice that would have been classified as a whine, had it not been the great and mighty Kurogane speaking. He really didn't want to be kept away from their home and his badass ninja training any more than necessary._

"_Because," Tomoyo explained patiently, regarding him the way she would a small child; something that infuriated the little ninja even more. "No matter what you say, the three hour trip to and from our home is not practical."_

"_I can make that commute every day!" the little boy puffed proudly. "That's nothing to a strong ninja like me!"_

_Tomoyo sighed and gently ruffled her young relative's hair. "But, someone here needs you more than you need to be at home."_

That had ended the argument. After that conversation with Tomoyo, Kurogane's parents came in and told him that his living arrangements had been settled and that all the things he needed had been moved into his room that afternoon.

"_Don't let yourself down, Kurogane."_

His father had said those words just before leaving. "What was the old man talking about?" Kurogane groused as he buried himself deeper under his blankets. "Stupid Tomoyo and her stupid prophesies," he grumbled as he slowly drifted off to sleep.

He had not been asleep long when the door to his room opened. His ninja senses were honed so that he woke up when the newcomers stepped into the room. Kurogane jumped out of bed and grabbed the nearest weapon-like object, which was a pencil on his nightstand, and threw it at the intruders.

"Watch it!"

Kurogane was certain that, despite his sleep-muddled brain, he had aimed perfectly. But, somehow, the two intruders—he was sure there were only two—both managed to dodge. He was somewhat relieved, because the person who had yelled had a voice that he recognized.

"Takamura-senpai?" Kurogane blinked as Takamura Suoh, a fifth-grader and secretary of the elementary student council, flipped on the light switch. Behind Suoh was the idiot blond who had strangled him with a hug earlier. "Fai?"

"Little black?"

"That's not my name!" Kurogane growled. "Just what are you doing here at this..." And then he remembered that he was supposed to have a roommate. The ninja turned pleading red eyes at Suoh just as things started to click into place in his head. "...Don't tell me he's my roommate!"

Suoh nodded, his face completely serious. "It's a new system CLAMP elementary is trying out. The first and second graders are roomed in with fifth and sixth graders who will help them get used to grade school. Fai, here, just turns out to be your senior."

"But that doesn't make sense!" Kurogane protested. "How can he help me out when he isn't even that used to Japan, yet."

Fai grinned, "Kuroi-chan has a point."

"It's Kurogane!"

"The president thought it was a good idea," Suoh mused wondering what exactly Nokoru was thinking about when he said that the two new students were getting along perfectly. He sighed heavily and decided that it was too late in the night to do anything about the matter. "I'll talk to him about it tomorrow. In the meantime, you two will have to room with each other."

Kurogane watched, unhappily as Fai thanked Suoh for escorting him. He had been proven wrong again. The day _could_ get worse and it just did. At 22:46, he got the weird blond pervert who hugged little boys to death for a roommate.

Thankfully, Fai opted to quietly settle down. As the older boy began to change for bed, Kurogane blushed and turned away. He didn't know why he was suddenly so self-conscious when the two of them were both boys. The minutes ticked by and the room remained silent so Kurogane felt himself slowly falling asleep again.

The clock read 2:39 when Kurogane was awakened a second time that night. The door was closed, the windows were locked, and the room was still. He couldn't put his finger on what had awakened him this time around. He had just decided to go back to sleep when he realized that the room was still, but it was not perfectly quiet. There was quiet sniffling coming from Fai's bed. When Kurogane shifted around in his bed, the sniffling stopped. When Kurogane stayed still long enough, the sniffling slowly resumed accompanied by soft sobs and hiccups. Kurogane shifted again, and this cued the occupant of Fai's bed to, apparently, stop breathing. Now, Kurogane knew two things: 1. Fai was awake and 2. Fai was crying. And Fai was also trying to hide both facts.

"Oi."

There was a barely audible gasp from the other bed, but there was no other response. As Kurogane watched the other's back, which was turned to him, he noticed the older boy's muscles tense.

"I know you're awake."

A few moments of silence, as if Fai was debating with himself, and then, "Sorry, Kuro-tan, did I wake you?"

What irked the ninja was that he could practically _hear _the other boy smiling. "Stop that. I know you were crying just now."

Silence again. Kurogane knew the blond regretted letting on that he was awake.

"If you want to cry, do it, stop trying to smile it off," Kurogane lectured as he turned his back to the blond. "Do what you want to do."

As Kurogane did this, Fai turned over and sat up, "Kuro-myu?"

"Stop calling me weird names."

Kurogane's mattress shifted making him roll over to see what was happening. He found Fai sitting on his bed, clutching a downy pillow tightly to his chest. Fai's golden locks were plastered to his face with tears. He wasn't smiling, but he had already stopped crying.

"What do you think you're doing?" the ninja roared, thoughts of how this fifth-grader was the pervert who had hugged him uninvited, earlier. But his voice didn't come as strong as he wanted, the anger dying at his lips as he stared at sad blue eyes. Despite his words, he scooted a bit to the side, but he reasoned that he was just trying to get away from Fai and not giving the blond room.

Fai blinked innocently. "You told me to do what I want to do."

"I was talking about crying!" Kurogane clarified wondering how his words could be so misunderstood. "And why would you want to sleep with me, anyway? How old are you?!"

Fai kept his blue eyes guarded and evaded the red-eyed gaze in front of him. "I'm sorry. It 's just that I've never slept alone in a bed that wasn't mine before. It makes me sad."

Somehow, Kurogane felt that this wasn't the full story, but it really wasn't his business to ask. So, exhausted by being awakened several times that night, Kurogane's sleepy brain—yes, it was his sleepy brain—that decided that allowing Fai this favor for one night wouldn't kill him. As Fai cuddled him and they both began the peaceful ride to dreamland, Kurogane caught sight of the clock.

2:52. A bit late, but the day didn't turn out for the worst after all.

-

It was lunchtime when Kurogane was summoned to the elementary student council's office.

"Why does he have to do that?" Kurogane demanded in a voice that would have been classified as a whine, had it not been the great and mighty Kurogane speaking. He couldn't explain it, but he felt that Fai wouldn't do well with another roommate. Besides, if Fai changed rooms, he'd have to get used to his new bed all over again and would probably spend the night awake and crying. Of course, he didn't offer either explanation to the student council members.

Imonoyama Nokoru, the sixth-grade president of the student council was uncharacteristically quiet, listening to the conversation from behind his desk. Suoh was the one who explained, though he was bewildered by the sudden change of heart. "Because you need to be with someone who can guide you through CLAMP elementary school life."

"I can take care of myself!" the little boy puffed proudly. "That's nothing to me!"

"But Fai needs to be with someone who can not only teach him about Japan, but guide him through CLAMP elementary school life, as well," Nokoru reasoned from where he was sitting. "So I've arranged for him to stay with me for the time being while you will be staying with Suoh."

"But..."

"It was my decision, Kuro-pon," Fai walked into the room carrying a tray of sweet pastries. The treasurer Ijyuin Akira walked in behind him carrying tea.

"It's Kurogane!" Kurogane said grumpily.

"I don't want to give you any more trouble," the blond set the pastries down and patted Kurogane's head affectionately. "The way I caused you trouble last night," this was said in low tones so the others wouldn't hear.

Kurogane swatted Fai's hand away. "Stop that! How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not a puppy!" he complained. Fai only smiled back.

The discussion was over. It was 12:15 when Kurogane lost his pervert roommate while gaining an older and more experienced ninja roommate. It was the best thing that could have happened to him other than being told to come home from CLAMP school.

But his father's and Tomoyo's reminders echoed in his head while Kurogane wondered why he felt that the day couldn't possibly get any worse.

-

**A/N: **A bit longer than usual, but I hope it wasn't boring. Reviews are always appreciated. I'm worried about characterization at this point; so feel free to comment on the depiction of the characters.

Thanks for reading!


	4. Fangirls 1

This is segues to the first arc, which is short (read: two parts), but almost done. Hope you enjoy this.

Kuro-chan versus the fangirls—it had to happen sometime.

**CLAMP School Kurogane  
**

**Suwano Kurogane**

A first grade student and a Suwa ninja. He was sent by his family to CLAMP school because of a prediction of their resident dream seer Tomoyo that he would find his "one" there. Kurogane is a very talented fighter and athlete despite his age, but is somewhat short-tempered. He believes he is a strong warrior and hates it when he is looked down upon and treated like a child (or a puppy ).

**Imonoyama Nokoru **

A sixth grade student and president of the Elementary Student Council. He is the youngest son of the head of the Imonoyama zaibatsu. He is very charming and intelligent and is always ready to help a damsel in distress.

**Fangirls : Moment 1**

"Look, it's Suwano-kun!" _One_.

"Awwww...he's so cute! Don't you just want to eat him up?" Shudder. _Two_.

"Not only is he adorable, I hear he's good at all sports, especially martial arts." _One again_.

Kurogane twitched. Lately, he wished that his sensitive hearing, a gift he once took pride in as a ninja, wasn't so sensitive. He really didn't like hearing the girls giggle and gush about him when they thought they were out of earshot.

"He's like a younger Takamura Suoh! And they're roommates!" _Oh, there's a three_.

"I saw them the other day having breakfast together. They look like brothers!" _What? Just because we had breakfast together? And was that a fourth girl? Yes, it was. Four._

"KAWAII!!!" _Oh no, that sounded like at least seven girls. _ Putting his ninja skills to good use, Kurogane began to sneak off, but the power of fangirlism was too much for the little ninja. He was quickly surrounded by skirts of older girls who immediately began patting him on the head and pinching his cheeks.

"Leave me alone!" the boy cried out as he tried to wriggle free of a fangirl glomp. "I am not cute!"

"Awwww... He's even cuter when he's mad! His cheeks are all red!"

"THAT'S CAUSE YOU PINCHED ME!"

"He looks like an angry puppy to me," someone commented from outside the fray.

"I AM NOT A PUPPY!" Kurogane growled angrily at the newcomer.

"Nokoru-sama," the girls gushed. Some of the girls flocked around the elementary student council president while the others hesitated, unsure of which school celebrity to fawn over.

"Now, now, ladies, while it pains my heart to get in the way of your happiness, Suwano-kun and I have to take our leave," Nokoru sweet-talked the girls in a way that only Nokoru could into leaving the two boys alone.

"Oh, is Suwano-kun helping out at the council now?" one of the girls, one with beautiful chestnut curls and wide blue eyes, asked.

"Yes, he is," Nokoru smiled so brightly that Kurogane thought he would be blinded. The girls, apparently, already were.

"That's so cute! He's only in first-grade!"

Kurogane blinked up at Nokoru, curious.

"I'm sure you'll find it very interesting, Suwano-kun," Nokoru informed the boy as the two of them made a hasty escape.


	5. Case 1: Lisensei's Doppelganger

_Because I got bored. p_

**CLAMP School Kurogane**

**Suwano Kurogane**

A first grade student and a Suwa ninja. He was sent by his family to CLAMP school because of a prediction of their resident dream seer Tomoyo that he would find his "one" there. Kurogane is a very talented fighter and athlete despite his age, but is somewhat short-tempered. He believes he is a strong warrior and hates it when he is looked down upon and treated like a child (or a puppy ).

**Fai D. Flowright**

A fifth grade student. He is a foreigner and is reasons for being transferred to the school are not clear. All that is known about his family life is that he was raised by a person named Ashura and Ashura's bodyguard and friend Yasha. Fai is shown to be brilliant in almost all arts from painting to culinary. He is well mannered and appears to be from a well-to-do family.

**Imonoyama Nokoru**

A sixth grade student and president of the Elementary Student Council. He and Fai are very similar in nature as they are both always ready with a smile and a kind word. He is the youngest son of the head of the Imonoyama zaibatsu. He is very charming and intelligent and is always ready to help a damsel in distress.

**Takamura Suoh**

Fai's classmate and Nokoru's long-suffering secretary. He is also a ninja and his "one" is Nokoru. He is shy and quiet, except when he is forcing Nokoru to finish his student council paperwork. He is almost always by Nokoru's side. He has a crush on a kindergartner named Nagisa.

**Ijyuin Akira**

A fourth grade student and Nokoru's treasurer. He is (not so) secretly the thief 20 faces at night. He is very cheerful and seemingly naïve. He always supports Nokoru's exploits and is a very talented chef.

**Case 1: Li-sensei's Doppelganger**

**_Part One_**

It was shortly after Kurogane was saved by Imonoyama Nokoru from the fangirls when the little ninja found himself wondering about what lay ahead for him. He was now sitting in the CLAMP Elementary Student Council Office contemplating if he'd have been safer with the girls as he eyed the blond president suspiciously.

"This is from a young lady asking for our help," Nokoru announced to his small clique gathered in the office. He held up a letter Kurogane recognized (after all, who could forget such a flowery, frilly, girly, and intoxicatingly sweetly scented piece of paper?) as one he had handed to the Student Council Secretary Takamura Suoh earlier that day.

-

"_I'll see you tomorrow," the brown-haired brown-eyed teacher said as he tapped his notes on his desk, aligning the loose pieces of paper._

"_Stand," called out the class representative and the entire class stood and bowed respectfully for their teacher. They thanked their teacher for the lesson and Kurogane, for one, meant this 'thank you' more than he usually did. He had actually enjoyed the math lesson taught by Li-sensei. Somehow, it made more sense the way the teacher taught it._

_When the teacher left, one of Kurogane's classmates approached him timidly, wary of the other student's temper. "Suwano-kun," the girl greeted him in a voice so soft that any other person would have missed it. _

_When he acknowledged her, she immediately turned pink. She had been expecting to be ignored because people generally didn't take notice of her. She was holding a pretty pink envelope in her hands. "Uhm, here..." she handed the flowery thing to Kurogane and then rushed out of the room._

_Kurogane blinked, confused, then turned the envelope over to look at the address. In a hand that was too neat and intricate for a little girl, the words 'To the CLAMP Campus Detectives' were written. He wondered why the envelope had been given to him, but shrugged it off and decided it was because Takamura Suoh was his roommate._

-

"She says the man that she loves has a doppelganger," Nokoru ended with his usual flourish, setting the letter down on the table, his voice taking on a dramatic pitch.

"A doppelganger?" Akira Ijyuin picked the letter up and browsed through it.

"This young lady is obviously worried about her love," the president of the student council said, thoughtfully.

Suoh nodded. "If you see your doppelganger, it is said that you will die. Of course she does not want her love to die."

"I don't understand, kaichou, what are we supposed to do?" Ijyuin's gray eyes were asking, but they also held some kind of excitement for whatever was coming up ahead.

Nokoru's ever-present fan came into view and he unfolded it in front of his face. The word 'Mission' was written on the white paper. "We capture the doppelganger, of course! That way, this lady's love won't see it and will not die."

"That's a great idea, kaichou!" Ijyuin cheered.

Kurogane frowned. This was what the Elementary Student Council did? He checked how Suoh was taking things, but the secretary looked pensive about something. The blue-haired boy said nothing as the other two council members prepared for their 'search and capture' mission. He just went to work on his computer. Suoh looked like he was trying to remember something and was trying to jolt his memory by going through the voluminous files of CLAMP school.

"But this plan won't work out without the help of Suwano-kun," Nokoru's blue eyes were pleading as he turned to the first-grader. "Won't you help?" the question was punctuated with a decidedly feminine batting of eyelashes accompanying a puppy-dog pleading gaze. Suoh was too busy to advise against accepting, and Kurogane was too innocent to realize that it was a trap. Nokoru was baiting him. The younger ninja found it hard to resist blue eyes. He nodded dumbly. The older boy clapped, satisfied. "Great! Now, here's the plan..."

-

"_...The girl's 'love' is the math teacher, Li-sensei. Suwano-kun, since he's your teacher, you will follow him around to prevent him from coming into contact with his doppelganger. Ijyuin and I will look for Li-sensei's doppelganger through the CLAMP school's state of the art surveillance camera system and contact you and Suoh so it can be kept away from Li-sensei and be captured."_

Kurogane sighed. The plan was simple enough on its own, but that didn't mean it wasn't ridiculous. What kind of idiot believed in doppelgangers, anyway? Apparently, the entirety of the CLAMP Elementary Student Council did.

But, he didn't really have much else to do and Kurogane had already given his word that he would help. In case the doppelganger story was true, he didn't want Li-sensei to die, either. Li-sensei was a great teacher.

"Li Syaoran-sensei. 22. Single. A graduate of CLAMP School University. He grew up in China under the care of his grandfather who taught him martial arts among other things. He did his practice teaching at CLAMP School High and because he did a wonderful job there, he immediately got accepted to teach Math in CLAMP School Elementary.

"Now, he teaches Kuro-chan who obviously has a crush on him because Li-sensei's such a cool guy," Fai grinned widely as he finished his narration. He averted his eyes from the brown-haired brown-eyed math teacher who was studying a notice on the notice board quite intently to look at the first-grader he was leaning over.

"I do not have a crush on Li-sensei," Kurogane's growl was a bit softer than usual as he glared at the blond who was peering over his shoulder. Although he wasn't quite sure what Fai meant about "crush". Whatever it was, the look in those blue eyes told him it wasn't good. He cursed the fates that had decreed that the nosy idiot find him while he was trying to prevent Li-sensei from running into his doppelganger.

The fifth-grader patted his companion's spiky black hair affectionately. "So why are you stalking him?" he inquired, his blue eyes sparkling teasingly.

Stalking. Following around stealthily. Stalking was a ninja exercise. "What's wrong with stalking?" Kurogane hissed up at Fai. "And can you keep it down? You're going to give us away!"

"I don't think that matters, he's left already," Fai pointed out that the spot where Li-sensei had been was already very much filled with air.

It was a first for Kurogane. He had never lost his prey before. The blond idiot was distracting him from his work. He gave a frustrated roar before stomping away from the older boy.

"Where are you going?" Fai called after him.

The little ninja threw his arms up. "Away from you!"

"But, Little Black..."

"My name is KUROGANE!"

"But Kuro-kuro..."

Storm away.

"...Aren't you going to check out the notice board?"

Pause. Stop. Rewind. "What?"

"Aren't you going to look at the notice that Li-sensei was reading?"

Kurogane gave another growl, annoyed that he hadn't thought of such a simple thing. He gave a defeated sigh and walked over to the notice board where Fai already was.

"I think Li-sensei was looking at the one about the guest performance of singing idol." Fai watched as the wheels in the younger boy's head turned. "I take it that's where we'll be tonight?"

"That's where I'll be tonight, I don't care what you do!" Kurogane answered as he stomped away.

Fai didn't attempt to follow him, but the blond's comment, "Aww...Kuro-puppy's mean..." didn't escape him.

"I AM NOT—!" Kurogane yelled before storming off in search of his quarry. The rest of the sentence was cut off when the communication pin Nokoru had given him sounded off.

"_We found the doppelganger. It is in the amphitheatre. Go after Li-sensei and stop him from reaching that place."_ Nokoru's voice crackled.

"There's really a doppelganger?" Kurogane found himself saying, dumbfounded. And then, his sense of duty kicked in and he ran after the math teacher whom he realized must be heading to the amphitheatre for the performance of the singing idol.

_**Author's Notes:**_

_I am now setting a five review minimum before posting the next chapter. LOL. Just kidding._

_About doppelgangers, wiki says:_

"A_**doppelgänger**_ or **fetch** is the ghostly double of a living person, a sinister form of bilocation.

In the vernacular, "Doppelgänger" has come to refer to any double or look-alike of a person—most commonly an "evil twin". The essential meaning of the German word is "doublewalker", someone who is walking the same way as another person. The word is also used to describe the sensation of having glimpsed oneself in peripheral vision, in a position where there is no chance that it could have been a reflection. They are generally regarded as harbingers of bad luck. In some traditions, a doppelgänger seen by a person's friends or relatives portends illness or danger, while seeing one's own doppelgänger is an omen of death. In Norse mythology, a _vardøgr_ is a ghostly double who precedes a living person and is seen performing their actions in advance."


	6. Case 1: Li sensei's Doppelganger 2

**CLAMP School Kurogane**

**Suwano Kurogane**

A first grade student and a Suwa ninja. He was sent by his family to CLAMP school because of a prediction of their resident dream seer Tomoyo that he would find his "one" there. Kurogane is a very talented fighter and athlete despite his age, but is somewhat short-tempered. He believes he is a strong warrior and hates it when he is looked down upon and treated like a child (or a puppy).

**Fai D. Flowright**

A fifth grade student. He is a foreigner and is reasons for being transferred to the school are not clear. All that is known about his family life is that he was raised by a person named Ashura and Ashura's bodyguard and friend Yasha. Fai is shown to be brilliant in almost all arts from painting to culinary. He is well mannered and appears to be from a well-to-do family.

**Imonoyama Nokoru**

A sixth grade student and president of the Elementary Student Council. He and Fai are very similar in nature as they are both always ready with a smile and a kind word. He is the youngest son of the head of the Imonoyama zaibatsu. He is very charming and intelligent and is always ready to help a damsel in distress.

**Takamura Suoh**

Fai's classmate and Nokoru's long-suffering secretary. He is also a ninja and his "one" is Nokoru. He is shy and quiet, except when he is forcing Nokoru to finish his student council paperwork. He is almost always by Nokoru's side. He has a crush on a kindergartner named Nagisa.

**Ijyuin Akira**

A fourth grade student and Nokoru's treasurer. He is (not so) secretly the thief 20 faces at night. He is very cheerful and seemingly naïve. He always supports Nokoru's exploits and is a very talented chef.

**Case 1: Li-sensei's Doppelganger**

_**Part Two**_

Ninja pride would not permit Kurogane to admit that he had lost the person he was supposed to be shadowing so he didn't ask Nokoru where Li-sensei was. When Suoh tried to contact him, he was too embarrassed to even talk to the older ninja so he gave the communicator pin to Fai who didn't want to leave him alone during the mission.

"Here, you hold on to this and keep tabs on what that president has to say," Kurogane told Fai. "I'll come back here with Li-sensei so stay put."

Fai, surprisingly, obeyed. Kurogane was barely out of earshot when Fai answered a call from Suoh.

As Kurogane ran down the path Li-sensei appeared to have taken, he found himself standing by a crossroad marked by signs that pointed to different key locations in the school. One location was the amphitheatre and it was far off. The thought that there was actually a doppelganger and that Li-sensei was on his way to his doom made Kurogane run faster so that he nearly missed (but still conveniently ignored) the sound of Fai calling out butchered versions of his name.

"Li-sensei!" Kurogane shouted when he found the math teacher on his way to enter the performance area. His trained red eyes quickly scanned the perimeter and found the doppelganger coming out of the amphitheatre. Because the teacher's attention had been stolen by the boy's cry, he managed to avoid his untimely demise by meeting his own doppelganger. "Li-sensei, don't look that way."

"What way?" one thick brown eyebrow rose, confused. But, he kept his eye on the ninja, anyway. By this time, Kurogane was close enough to lunge at the man.

The doppelganger, however, appeared determined to kill the educator and called out to him, "Li-sensei!"

"No!" Kurogane, thinking quickly pulled off his jacket and threw it over the educator's head and knotted the arms together to create a makeshift blindfold. "Don't look at it!" He growled and stood between the two look a likes. This stunned and stopped the doppelganger. "Stay away from him!" He launched an attack.

At that moment, Fai caught up to Kurogane, as well. "Kuro-kiki!" Kurogane did not even slow at the sound of his name, but the doppelganger easily blocked the punch he threw with an almost reflexive defensive kick. "Wait!" the blond was not even winded despite trying to keep up with the smaller and well-trained ninja boy. The Suwano child mentally took note of it and decided that this fact made the fifth-grader a bit more interesting. He pushed those thoughts aside as he realized from that brief exchange that the doppelganger was more than capable of fighting him. Maybe the doppelganger's skills were a reflection of Li-sensei's fighting prowess.

But, Li-sensei could not fight the doppelganger without the risk of looking at it, so it was up to Kurogane to—

"What're you doing, Suwano?" Li-sensei demanded as he removed his blindfold.

"Suwano-kun!" Suoh also came running from the general direction of the student council office. "Please settle down!"

"Manager?" a female voice came from the amphitheatre. "What's going on?"

"It's nothing, Sakura-chan," the doppelganger replied, setting his leg down. He kept his guard up, though, convinced that the little boy with intimidating red eyes was a little bit unsettled.

Said unsettled little boy soon realized that he was in the middle of a very confusing misunderstanding. One that he decided he could have saved himself from had he stayed with the fangirls.

-

"...Suoh finally managed to find out that Kinomoto-san was the doppelganger and quickly contacted us. However, we were too slow in contacting Suwano-kun, so we apologize sincerely for all the trouble we have caused," the elementary student council president finished his story by bowing deeply for the two men who looked exactly alike. Suoh and Ijyuin quickly followed suit. Seeing that Kurogane was still digesting matters and was not as responsive as he usually was, Fai placed a hand on the younger boy's head and guided the two of them to their own apologetic bow.

"Is that what happened?" Li-sensei nodded his head, his expression still stern and directed towards Kurogane as he heard the tail end of Nokoru's explanation of what had happened.

"It's quite amusing, if you think about it," the doppelganger, who was apparently not a doppelganger but rather was Kinomoto Syaoran, the manager/body guard/childhood friend of pop idol Reed Sakura.

Li-sensei kept a neutral face as he said, "But still, people could have been hurt by your rash actions, Suwano." When he saw the look on Kinomoto-san's and Sakura's faces, his eyes instantly softened. "I remember reading that you're part of the Suwano clan and that you're a very strong ninja and not just for your age. You must think before you act."

Kurogane did not rise from his bow so he missed the meaningful exchange of looks between the twins, "Yes Li-sensei, I'm sorry, Li-sensei."

"Perhaps your time away from training is not doing you any good," Li-sensei continued. Fai and Suoh quickly looked up to check the teacher's expression, worried that Kurogane's punishment might be harsher than they expected. When they saw the small smile on the older man's lips, they relaxed. Kurogane was not tempted in any way to read the teacher's expression so again, he was taking the situation a lot more seriously than everyone else. The little boy held his breath. "So, if you will accept it, would you like to be trained by Kinomoto-san and myself here, within CLAMP school?"

Kurogane shot up from his bow and blinked. "Li-sensei? Kinomoto-san?"

"I wouldn't mind having something to do," Kinomoto-san added, glancing over at Sakura. "After all, Sakura wants to stay here in CLAMP school so she can take up Music Theory."

"I will have to ask my father about this," was all could Kurogane say, not truly certain of what was going on. Even after he got his father's approval for supplementary training from the twins, things had not sunk in.

That evening, they were seated in the front row of Sakura's performance and Nokoru leaned over and whispered into his ear, "It has become rather interesting, ne?"

And Kurogane found himself agreeing and deciding that going with Nokoru was not such a bad idea, after all.

-

After Sakura's performance, Fai and Kurogane headed back to the dorms together as the council members claimed to still have business to settle and the three adults went off for a long dinner meant for catching up. As expected, Fai opened the conversation.

"You look less bored," the blond commented, glancing at the younger boy out of the corner of his eye.

Kurogane's red eyes fixed themselves on the stars. "I'm not bored," he confirmed.

"But you were," Fai pointed out. "When I first saw you, when I had lunch with you at that time," he sounded wistful, almost, as he spoke. "You were nothing but annoyed and bored. You weren't happy to be here."

The ninja did not need to be any older to detect the sadness in the older boy and he found himself remembering how Fai cried at night. "You didn't seem happy to be here, either. But, I don't think it's because you were bored like I was."

Fai looked surprised. "Kuro-wanwan is a very smart boy," he managed to recover quickly, sounding teasing.

"It's Kurogane, you idiot!" the first-grader growled.

And they stayed in that mood, Fai teasing and Kurogane getting annoyed, until they parted ways for the night.

-

_**Author's Notes:**_

_I'm so sorry for not updating. I kinda thought no one was reading this fic so I was ready to drop it. Now that our Net connection's a bit less intermittent, hopefully I can update quicker._

_Thanks to all those who reviewed and favorited (is that a word? Let's make it a word) this story. Reviews are always appreciated. Requests are accepted. Flames will be...uhm...read._

_Hope you all enjoyed this part._

_-paris_


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